First of all, I just want to say that I'm a rookie Civic owner, and this is by far the best site I've seen for info and ideas. I've been purely GM until this year, and I think I should have made the change a lot earlier..... Hats off to everyone here.

Ok, now the question: I have a 1996 Civic Si (Ex Coupe in the US.... I think.....), with a D16Y8 that I just picked up in September. Eventually I'm going to want to start modding the engine to get a little more umph out of it. At some point I'd like to get my Civic around 200-250hp, and I have read many posts about turbo vs swap. So far, it seems that there are opinions that favour either of the two choices, but when considering cost, (poor *** student here.....), it looks like I'll probably be going with a turbo rather than swapping in something like a B18C.

BUT!! I'd like to hear the opinions of those of you who obviously know WAY more about this stuff than I do. Is turbo the way to go? What is the estimated cost difference between going turbo or swapping?

Thanks fore the help.

Curlybandit

 

a '96 si with a d16Y8??? Something doesn't add up here...

 

....I'm pretty sure that's what it is....

D16Y8: 1.6L SOHC VTEC 96+ Civic EX (Coupe is Si in Canada) 127hp, 107 tq.

 

It makes me feel bad cause ur car has more torque than my car has HP.

 

First, I must say that newbs coming to the site lately have been some of the best I've seen in a long time. I commend you for your knowledge of the search tool curlybandit.

Now back on topic. If the Canadian Si is the same as EX in US, then yes you got that engine right. As for turbo or swapping, I'd say it's really up to you man. There's gona be people on here tellin' you that turbo is the best way, and people tellin' you that swap is the best, but like you said, both have their advantages and disadvantages. It all boils down to how much are you willing to spend. However, don't make the assumption that once you get to your goal of 200-250hp that you are going to want to stop, because I can pretty much gaurantee that you won't. So think long and hard about what your skills are as a mechanic, and how much you want to invest.

 

is this car going to be more of your daily driver, or more of a weekend racer?

 

Ohhhh....you're from canada...than yes, you're correct on the engine

 

You can turbo your car and have 200WHP on the stock internals. Then as you go you can upgrade them and reach higher boost levels (Which may be a good way to go since u say ur broke) Of you could save for a swap, and then save for boosting the swap. However, a 200 whp civic will be pretty quick, but its simply up to you. I went turbo cuz i found a good price on a kit, but if i found a good price on a swap then...........well u see where im going.

 

Piecing together a turbo kit can run around 1500, but more likely 2000. A GSR will run around 3500 or 4000. BUT, youll have about 60 more base horsepower, and a DOHC engine is a lot easier to boost, and will be a lot easier to get to 250 horses.

So for a boosted D, youll run around 2000 bucks, BUT itll be a lot harder to get those higher horsepowers.

A boosted B will run around 5000 cheap, BUT youll run a lot faster.

Just think about it. A lot of guys really like the idea of rockin the D, but me? Im a DOHC kinda man.

 

2,000? i got my greddy kit for 1300 shipped, and MD420 is selling a D series turbo kit for like 500 bucks. All ya need is charge piping.